How many 8/9s GCSE for a top Russell Group University or Oxbridge?

[TartanTexan]

Realistically what do you need as a minimum and for Oxbridge?

If taking 9 or 10 GCSEs - all 9s needed? Mainly 9s for say Newcastle or Exeter?

It will surely depend on course & subject but in very general terms. Thanks

Those Oxford med stats are rather shocking, especially considering that most medical students will end up as GPs and will need a skill and aptitude set relevant to that job rather than one adapted to being a star research molecular biologist. (I am not being rude about GPs - you need to be able to listen to people's problems day in and out and the notion that this willingness is secured by getting 9+ A* is ludicrous.) I think some other medical schools have been known to just reject a random proportion of their applicants in order to both be fair and preserve a good cross-section of people. People looking at the highly competitive unis and courses would do well to also look at the Complete University Guide for the A level performance data of successful candidates. When I was responsible for doing maths admissions we really only did care about performance in maths. Getting a C in GCSE RS or Sociology might even be viewed as a sign of efficient time and resource allocation. We really could not give a damn about peripheral subjects, or sports....

The subject you do at a RG or other good unis makes a big difference to the entrance requirements, our offers can range from A AA to BBB depending on popularity. Not sure if GCSE grades count but our students do not have all As or 9s. Although you can't switch once you enter, you can chose wisely once you arrive, I know someone who got in in a subject she wasn't that fussed about, did all stats options once in and is now a consultant in the financial industry on a great postgrad scheme

There are many ways to the same goal.

I understand about Progress 8, and I am assuming a good comp is probably the type with a reasonably good progress 8 score. But Oxford medicine doesn't seem to be looking at Progress 8, they look at quintiles, at least that is my reading of parts of the explanation regarding GCSEs . A bright DC going into the comp will go in in the top quintile, and will likely finish in the top quintile. An equally bright DC going into a highly academic 11+ (grammar or independent) may well go in in a lower quintile, simply because of the nature of the competition, and stay there, but actually they are just as bright as the DC who went to the comp. But this test would seem to put the DC at the comp at an advantage to the DC at the academic school. In personal terms, we didn't sit my DS for the 11+ (couldn't face the tutoring and thought he might not handle it so well, grammar schools horrendously competitive, independent schools horrendously competitive and expensive), and went for the local comp (luckily we have a reasonably decent comp, with a reasonable Progress 8) but lots of others we know went for grammars and/or independents selectives. DS has matured and if anything is performing better than expected (about a year ago he discovered that hard work pays off), but even when going in, he would have been in the top quintile. And bizarrely this seems to suggest that we might have blundered into the better option, at least as far as Oxford is concerned (DS doesn't think so, he is dead jealous of all the opportunities, especially extra curricular, amongst friends he has outside the comp, and has managed to secure himself a conditional offer from one of these highly academic schools for 6th form).